NBA Bargains 12/30/16

NBA Bargains –12/30/16

There is one random early game tipping off at 4:00pm ET between the Chicago Bulls who are being hosted by the Indiana Pacers. This article will focus on the nine games beginning at the usual 7:00pm ET tipoff.

As always, more information will be released by the teams closer to tip-off, but this should give us plenty of discounted options to work with in the meantime.

If you have any questions you can reach me on Twitter @EmacDFS or in the FanVice.com premium Slack channel.

Point Guards

T.J. McConnell – PHI at DEN – With Sergio Rodriguez already ruled out this is a prime spot for T.J. McConnell who should see 27-30 minutes as the primary point guard (Nik Stauskas is technically the only remaining backup) and even though he is not the most talented of floor generals, McConnell should accumulate more than enough fantasy points to “return value” on his discounted price tag. He will be incredibly popular and he is a viable “fade” in tournaments with an 18 team player pool available to us tonight.

Emmanuel Mudiay – DEN vs PHI – Sticking in this same game, Emmanuel Mudiay is a fine tournament option who has 35+ fantasy point upside. On the flipside, he does tend to disappear in games even when he sees 20+ minutes, so he is not trustworthy in H2H format contests (50/50s, doubleups, 3-mans, etc).

Austin Rivers – LAC at HOU – With Chris Paul already ruled out of this game, Rivers is a fine discount option in all formats.

Patrick Beverley – HOU vs LAC – Though his price tag is nearing its season high, PB went from being an afterthought to an intriguing option with CP3 out of the mix.

Shooting Guard

Jamal Crawford – LAC at HOU – Even with J.J. Redick a reasonable bet to return from his hamstring injury, with Chris Paul out, Crawford will have secure minutes and pick up some additional ball handling responsibilities with the second unit.

Eric Gordon – HOU vs LAC – Gordon has a solid matchup against the team that drafted him and even though he is coming off the bench in most games, he is putting up his best numbers of the last four seasons in nearly every category. The Clippers are not the best against wing players, so this is a nice matchup for the veteran from Indiana University.

Otto Porter – WAS vs BKN – On FanDuel at $5.7k it is going to be hard to pass on Porter to fill one of our two small forward slots. If Bradley Beal (ankle) is out, he moves into play on FantasyDraft and DraftKings as well in this terrific matchup with the toothless Brooklyn defense.

Wilson Chandler – DEN vs PHI – This sort of freewheelin’ affair is perfectly suited to Chandler’s skill set and he has been slashing upside recently with 30+ fantasy points in three of his last five games. It is always tough to trust Coach Mike Malone and his rotations, but this is a fine time to take a chance.

Power Forward

Trevor Booker – BKN at WAS – This is a nice matchup for Booker against the team where he spent his first five years in the league. The Wizards do not have any intimidating rebounders and with his high motor, it would not be a surprise to see Booker end up with a double double tonight.

Markieff Morris – WAS vs BKN – Yes, he is infuriatingly inconsistent, but against a Brooklyn frontcourt that does not challenge for many rebounds, thirty points is in the cards for Morris. If he can stay out of trouble and out of Coach Scott Brook’s doghouse.

Center

Montrezl Harrell – HOU vs LAC – We should see Harrell get enough minutes to be fantasy relevant with Clint Capela still on the shelf. While he will be contending with teammate Nene Hilario for prime playing time, he should still be able to produce in this matchup against DeAndre Jordan who is not the lock down defender people think he is.

Mason Plumlee – POR at SAS – Don’t forget, it is Pau Gasol in the post now and not Tim Duncan. Plumlee is a double double threat in this matchup and when he hits that mark he usually ends up with 30+ fantasy points.

Robin Lopez – CHI at IND – Bonus pick for the FanDuel early contests. In his two matchups this season against the Pacers, RoLo surpassed 25 fantasy points in both, albeit just barely. He is a fine discount differentiation play which really frees up some salary cap for the other positions.

About The Author

EMac won the 2007 Fantasy Baseball grand prize (trip for two to the MLB All-Star game) in the Roto format on ESPN. He won again in 2008, this time in the H2H format.As one of the early adopters of daily fantasy sports, EMac has been providing content for baseball and basketball as well as both professional and college football since 2012 for a variety of websites including DraftKings Playbook, RotoWorld, Daily Fantasy Bootcamp, and RotoGrinders. He is well into his third decade of fantasy sports and has a wealth of knowledge and experience.